Why Playing Music Can Change the World

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Picking up a musical instrument and learning to play it is one of the most amazing things we can do for ourselves and for others. This act brings everything together. The mind, the body, and the spirit connect in a totally unique manner.

A PERSPECTIVE OF LOVE THROUGH MUSIC

As generations and eons of time pass, nothing much has really changed regarding the evolution of humanity — the way we think and the way we live our lives are about the same.

Let’s go back in time five hundred, a thousand, or even four thousand years.
Here is mankind with his basic goals:

• A place to live and rest (housing)
• Nourishment for the body (food)
• Procreation (family)
• Feeling needed and wanted (love)

Most evolved people achieved these goals in a humane and ethical manner. There is also the obverse, those who lied and cheated and stole and even killed to achieve their goals. Take a look around and the same is true today.

The major difference between our ancestors and us is technology. Our lives are supposedly easier now, because our basic necessities are more fluidly attained. Advancements in medicine, communication, travel and all other areas of technology make living today quite different from our ancestors. However, riding alongside our seemingly “ease of lifestyle”, are new stress factors due to the many ramifications of this technology.

Examine your own life for a moment:

• Do you feel the deep levels of peace and gratitude for what you have?
• Do you feel nurtured by the life around you everyday?
• Can you cope with the current global financial and political changes?

Many folks today are overstressed trying to accomplish these same basic goals of our past ancestors — housing, food, family and love. We are so advanced we begin to actually regress because of the stress factors all around us. These basic goals are harder to actualize for many of us. Even with our huge technological breakthroughs, our lives seem no better in many ways than our ancestors. The important things like peace and gratitude and nobility and compassion and especially love, seem to be getting lost in the wave of technology that is sweeping over us.

Here we are in the center of this huge wave, and it gets very overwhelming for so many people. Many turn to drugs and alcohol to deaden the effects of the chaos and stress in these times. This is not a good solution.

William Blake wrote many years ago, “The Child is Father to the Man”. In todays world that little sentence has come full circle to mean, “Simplicity is Greater Than Complexity”.

SOLUTIONS

So what do we do to solve our problems of complexity and chaos? This problem has been growing for millennia and our leaders have been trying to help. Benevolent leaders from State and Church have attempted to create: governing laws, decrees, resolutions, declarations, and manifestos to straighten our society and to make life better for us.

A few of these dictums have been successful throughout history, especially when freedom and nurturing the common good were involved. However, after time passes, these doctrines simply become pieces of paper, because of special interest groups and politics and greed. Leaders frequently take the approach of changing society from the OUTSIDE-IN. Blanket the planet with decrees and maybe we will all get better. It hasn’t worked yet.

A few folks have tried to change themselves from the INSIDE-OUT. Change the way you live your OWN life by personal growth and introspection. What a novel concept! Yes, the country will continue to make the big laws that govern us. However, we the people need to make our own interior personal doctrines, and go within ourselves, more than we ever have done before, to find peace in a tough world.

Maybe it’s possible to change the very fabric of mankind through focused education in key areas, resulting in increased awareness of who we are, as children of the cosmos, or Children of God, or whatever you want to call the larger panorama that exists all around us. Spiritual people have been doing this for centuries.

As people get fed up with chaos, it makes sense to become a seeker of truth. Prayer and meditation combined with knowledge and self-actualization can become real keys to inner change, culminating in a greater interior peace and less stress for the individual, even in a chaotic climate.

How about a smile on your face most of the day? How about actually feeling good when you face the day, because we can now help others and help ourselves at the same time.

• Are we here to take as many vacations as possible?
• Are we here to hoard money and possessions?
• Are we here to gratify our senses everyday?
• Are we here to escape from the chaos by using drugs and alcohol?

After all these millennia have passed, and mankind is about the same as it was thousands of years ago, do you think we are due for a real change?

We need a real paradigm shift in consciousness. Instead of focusing on OURSELVES most of the time, maybe we can shift and focus on OTHERS instead. It only takes a moment of concrete thought to begin this process.

Visualize the millions of people around us. We all came from the same act of creation a long time ago. We are all connected. We all have similar DNA. We are all connected because we are the global “family of man” and we are here together NOW.

Let’s bring it down to the community level, where you live, with an example:
The next time you are in traffic and somebody cuts you off or impatiently blows their horn in anger just recognize that whoever is doing this is sadly in chaos right now. He or she is a child of the Universe, just like you are, and they are having a tough time right now.

God knows, you have had plenty of tough times in your life, right? Smile and wish them peace from your heart, and be on your way. Gesturing back will only make your heart race. Don’t succumb to what everybody else does … fighting.

Multiply that little peaceful moment, times one hundred moments a day and it equals a powerful shift! By changing your interior you begin to see the power of this INSIDE-OUT approach to changing the planet. Multiply those one hundred peaceful caring things YOU do, times a million OTHER people doing similar life movements every day. The exponential results could be staggering and the energy field created could change things very quickly for the betterment of everyone. A quantum shift can occur. It sure is worth a try. Nothing else has worked in the last four thousand years.

We are here to help other people and to assist in any way we can with the transcendence of our planet. We can dedicate the remainder of our lives to actually changing this planet for the betterment of itself and the people who inhabit our mother Earth. It’s a big step to dedicate the remainder of our lives to this noble goal. What else is there to do — waste time, watch TV, get drunk and try to escape?

MUSIC

There is a little empty place in our hearts that wants to be filled up with a special kind of love. One of the best ways to fill it is by playing a musical instrument. It’s another INSIDE-OUT approach, and wow, it’s powerful. The results are simply astonishing!

Picking up a musical instrument and learning to play it is one of the most amazing things we can do for ourselves and for others. This act brings everything together. The mind, the body, and the spirit connect in a totally unique manner.

A spark of creativity ignites in many who begin to play an instrument. After just a small amount of progress, great music is often written and composed for the glory of all. Stress just disappears like magic, and joy replaces it, bubbling up like a fresh mountain stream. Those empty places in the heart are filled to the brim with sublime nectar. You’re creating lovely sounds with your mind and body through the guitar, violin or piano, and it spreads like a golden liquid throughout your inner being (spirit or soul) and reflects on everyone around you in such a beautiful way! Some will progress to the performance stages of the world, and even more joy manifests, as countless people are inspired and moved by the music you create.

SOUND

Many believe the sound of creation was a deep musical tone and that the Creator of the Cosmos used this musical tone to vibrate the ether.

A beautiful tone or musical note is soothing and relaxing to your body, mind and spirit. When you chant a slow repeated musical tone, the body goes into a relaxed state where the brain creates alpha waves, a longer slower brainwave that manifests relaxation, peace and quiet. This has been proven many times in university studies. The monks and nuns in the ancient churches used Gregorian chant to calm the hard working masses during ceremonies, as well as to honor God. Singing these slow Latin religious songs, with extended vowel sounds had an amazing calming influence on all who listened or sang. Some seekers today practice the INSIDE-OUT technique called mantras. This is very similar to Gregorian chant, as a series of slow vowels are repeated, often sung, with the eyes closed, and you can actually feel the peace grow within you as you chant. The breath becomes quieter, less breathing is needed, and the heart rate slows significantly as the chanter sits quietly and communes with their inner self.

As one does these mantras, one becomes aware of a deep inner self that feels close to the Divine, or the Force, or the God, or whatever is the Cosmos for you. These mantras are very musical in nature and the voice is as much of an instrument as a cello, a flute, or a trumpet. Thus, everyone has a built-in musical instrument. We can use it as a vehicle to go INSIDE-OUT. If you want to try one, just sit down, close your eyes and repeat the word OM over and over again.

Make it musical: take a breath and as you exhale just sing OM on a single vibrating note with your voice. Just watch what happens! Do it for 10 minutes and you will feel the calming difference throughout your body, mind, and what is behind the mind — your soul.

CHILDREN

Today, when children come home from school, many play video games. Numerous video games are “search, shoot and destroy” style video games, where killing is the norm. Think about this over months and years and what affect these games have on the mind, body and, yes, the soul of the child. Our planet cannot evolve, with such a constant regression in consciousness on a daily basis for our children.

You’ve heard of “cause and effect”. The child is an “effect” of his video game and all it portrays. Let us help our children instead be a “cause”. Introduce them to a musical instrument. The moment the child strums the first chord on a guitar, they are at “cause” and it is a pure act of creation. The sound actually vibrates through the Cosmos, and as the child progresses, wonderment becomes the daily atmosphere in your home. What a shift that would be!

It simply requires a little interaction from the parents to nurture the musical experience. The child’s left and right brain become synchronized, and the IQ quickly increases in musical children. Many university studies have been done on this subject. It is an amazing journey to witness your children or loved ones playing a musical instrument for the first time. Many parents witness their children staying at home and practicing in their rooms, instead of hanging out in the malls or on the troubled street corners. Positive change is already at hand when this occurs — from time being wasted, to time being used as a creative force. It’s a healthy change that is so needed in our society today. Plus, it creates an INSIDE-OUT approach to change.

Can everybody play an instrument? I say ABSOLUTELY. I personally have taught many 6-year-old children who have never played, to play a song on the guitar within 45 minutes. Stunning growth and creative patterns emerge with these kids! Some are slower than others, but they ALL can do it. Remember, as soon as they play their first chord, magic is happening internally from the INSIDE-OUT. Their faces light up and they say, “I did that!” and “I made that pretty sound”. These kids basically never created anything musical in their lives. It’s amazing to behold the change before your eyes, as these children strum an E Major chord together.

As children progress in music, with some parent supervision, garage bands and music groups quickly form with friends who have the same interests, and songs are written and performed. The word spreads to non-players and they become interested in learning an instrument.

Talent Shows feature your children performing the beautiful songs they have learned. You are proud of them indeed! You introduced them to music. Bravo!

As they progress, plans are made for high school band or youth symphony. Singing groups emerge and much time is spent creating harmonies and arrangements for performances of original music. Then comes college and scholarships for the many accomplished musicians. Others go on to teach music and that profession personally means the world to me. Such magnificent inspiration comes from teaching music. Others just love to play their instrument everyday after work, and many get together and form adult bands playing locally. It’s a great thing to behold!

The overall effect is that musical children grow up to be amazingly beautiful souls, because they changed internally. These children are replete with care, love, compassion and nobility. The musical vibrations of peace and creativity were instilled in them from day one.

BRING MUSIC INTO YOUR HOME

The little empty spaces in the heart have now been filled with the blossoms of creativity through music. The players have made an INSIDE-OUT approach to change themselves and the planet we inhabit. They absolutely feel the love and peace in their body, minds and souls that music can bring.

OUR CHILDREN WILL TEACH THEIR CHILDREN THE SAME VIBRATIONS OF LOVE

I believe strongly that if millions of new music students suddenly emerged right now, this earth would have a paradigm shift like never before in history. Remember, we are all connected. Everyone would feel the new PEACE that would permeate our Earth. Music is pure creation and love.

Playing music is an elixir for a chaotic planet replete with technology and all of its ramifications. I believe that playing music can change the world.

It can go straight to the heart of mankind, where those millions of empty spaces lie uninhabited. These spaces need to be filled with love, not shooting games. Music is actually LOVE and can easily replace the “effect” of video games and the TV and the computer, at least some of the time, and that is good for balance. God knows we need balance.

So, please, bring music into your homes. Do it soon. Buy or rent a ukulele, a guitar, a mandolin, a clarinet, a violin, or any instrument. Start your children on a path of personal growth that will be transcendental for them, as well as for you. Our planet will feel the change. This can only result in good for your family, friends and loved ones. Pick up a guitar yourself.
I have students that are 80 years old beginning their musical quests!

My life is dedicated to helping others. We all want to see a better place for our children and all generations to come. The only way to do this is by changing ourselves from within and helping others any way we can. We all desire less chaos and more peace and love.

So let’s get to it! Shall we?

WHAT I REALLY WANT ON A PERSONAL LEVEL

I want to help bring music to as many as I can, and watch their faces resplendently glow, as they make their first magical sound from their guitars! I would like to see a guitar in every home in our globally connected family. That equals a few billion instruments. I have a big job before me. I had better get to work!

4 Responses to Why Playing Music Can Change the World

I looked up this site after just now listening to Esteban’s recording of The Highwayman and was again amazed at how great he is singing that number. I have many of his DVD’s where I can enjoy watching him play the guitar. How about a DVD of him singing The Highwayman?

Thank you, Paul! Great to hear from you! We do not have a DVD of me singing the Highwayman, but that would be cool! The album “Wear the Black” was such a treat to make and work on with the incredible Austin, Tx talent. I am so glad you enjoy it!

Im 76 and have always loved the banjo and guitar. I grew up playing classical piano. My husband bought a banjo for me for Christmas a few years ago. I began to teach myself, slow going. Its quite strange to come off the piano and look at the stringed instrument keyboard. My husband, Mike plays guitar, mandolin and piano all by ear. Having just read your piece on learning a musical instrument, it has inspired me to get back with it again! We own two of your guitars and we have loved listening to you and Teresa play together. One of these times we’d love to get down to Sedona for one of your concerts. We have moved to Crested Butte, Colorado four years ago quite a change from north central Texas. All God’s best to you and yours! Jean Duffy

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Upcoming Events

Esteban at Hyatt Scottsdale

24Mar7:00 pm

We are excited to announce the return of legendary guitarist, Esteban, on Saturday, March 24! The world-famous guitar virtuoso will perform with his full band, including daughter Teresa Joy on violin, for one night only. The sunset concert will be held in the resort’s outdoor Fountain Court, set against the beautiful backdrop of the McDowell Mountains.

Esteban’s passion and explosive style of playing is a must-see live. Each performance is a truly unique experience that can never be duplicated.

Tickets are on sale now! Various pricing and seating options are available – visit hyattscottsdale.tix.com for tickets and more info.

Please note: artists and times are subject to change without notice; the event is rain or shine.

Scottsdale, Arizona
Esteban at Hyatt Scottsdale

Esteban in Sedona @Sound Bites 3/31/18

31Mar7:00 pm

Sit not five feet from Esteban and watch his fingers fly as he performs at his residency in the Sound Bites Grill Celebrity Show Room in breathtaking Sedona, Arizona. This is an intimate dinner theater where you may enjoy a rare and unique experience of music mastery at its finest that cannot be duplicated! The concert will take you on a musical journey with stories that inspire and ignite the passion of the soul.

Sit not five feet from Esteban and watch his fingers fly as he performs at his residency in the Sound Bites Grill Celebrity Show Room in breathtaking Sedona, Arizona. This is an intimate dinner theater where you may enjoy a rare and unique experience of music mastery at its finest that cannot be duplicated! The concert will take you on a musical journey with stories that inspire and ignite the passion of the soul.

Come and join us for Esteban’s Private Concert Series in Sedona. This venue is a must-see-fan favorite. Sit not five feet from Esteban and watch his fingers fly as he performs at his residency in the Sound Bites Grill Celebrity Show Room in breathtaking Sedona, Arizona. This is an intimate dinner theater where you may enjoy a rare and unique experience of music mastery at its finest that cannot be duplicated! The concert will take you on a musical journey with stories that inspire and ignite the passion of the soul.